


Lovely Secret

by enigmaticma



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Office, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Cute, Fluff, M/M, Secret Santa
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-24
Updated: 2020-12-24
Packaged: 2021-03-04 21:08:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,683
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25232908
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/enigmaticma/pseuds/enigmaticma
Summary: NR 2034 : For Secret Santa, YiFan received 3 packs. The first had a pack of chocolates from a brand he hated. The second had the most ugly, yet the most unique, hat ever. The last however had a love confession hidden in a book. Yi Fan couldn't guess who it could be. He had to find out.
Relationships: Kim Jongdae | Chen/Wu Yi Fan | Kris
Comments: 8
Kudos: 27
Collections: November Rain Fest Round 2





	Lovely Secret

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer:  
> -The names and characters' choice is simply a visual reference to make it easy for you to imagine facial expressions and voice's tones. My story do not represent me, my believes, or how I picture any of the real people I borrowed the names from.
> 
> \- published in 2020-07-13

Wu Yifan hated the Secret Santa tradition of his company so hard he tried to dodge it every single year. He succeeded some years and some he failed. That year he was glad he got his Boss, Jun Myun, who he knew would be happy with a bottle of red wine. Yifan bought one for him and sent it anonymously, before alerting Minseok - the organisator and the RH director that he sent his secret santa gift. 

“Oh! I think your secret santa sent you something too,” Minseok said through the phone, “in fact, you are one of the rare cases of multiple santas,” Yifan gasped to object but Minseok predicted it, “don’t ask.” Yifan sighed, in displeasure, while Minseok finished the call with a bright, “Merry Christmas, Yi Fan!” 

Shaking his head, Yi fan made his way to his office to collect the Secret Santa gift only to freeze at the three packs. They all had Yifan printed in it, which killed all the doubts in his mind. Three people sent him gifts and it made him feel greedy. 

He picked up his gifts and went home for the holiday. He was smart to get the 7 days off, which meant he won’t return to his claustrophobic office until the third of January. The walk home was heavy, not because of the bags but because he had to spend Christmas with his mother. He loved her but she kept insisting on finding a girl for him and he didn’t know how to tell her he was gay yet. He had no one, he never had anyone, but it didn’t mean he was unsure about his liking.

Heck, he refused to date his entire life just because he knew he was swinging that way. It terrified him to face his mother with that back then, now… He just can’t hurt her anymore.

“Fanfan! You are home,” the old woman said with a happy smile, approaching her son and kissed his cheeks, “I am happy you are back before dinner! I made you all your favorite food.”

Yi Fan smiled kindly as he let her guide him to the bathroom to “freshen up,” He literally threw the bags on the bed from where he was, happy his aim was perfect despite the distance, and washed his hands and face. Looking up to the mirror, he realized he was tired. His sunken expression was a clear indication of that. 

He joined his mother at the table, waited until she served herself and looked at him, smiling as she ate, “How was your job today?” 

“Fine,” He said tiredly, “I am glad I will get some time off to sleep.” His mother smiled at that but didn’t push so he frowned as he finished his dish in silence. Once he was done, he rested his chopsticks down and looked at her, “are you okay, mom?” 

The woman looked at him in surprise before smiling brightly again, “I am okay, my dear. Don’t worry yourself.” Yifan felt like her tone slapped him in the face, she sounded distant and he worried even further, so he held her hands and offered to clean up while she made them tea. They set the tea down, played an old rom com and sat down in silence. 

Yifan observed his mother worriedly, thoughts swirling in his mind. Why was she so quiet? Why didn’t she mention dates or girls for the past three hours? He was worried. 

“I’m sleepy,” she said suddenly, stretching with a yawn, “I’m off to bed.” 

Yifan went to bed as well, tossing the gifts aside as he planned to open them the following day. The celebration was fun despite how little his mother said about his private life. They had fun making dinner, Yi Fan slept most of the day to be honest, and drank for once in a lifetime. 

“Let us open the gifts!” His mother said with a bright tone, “Your aunts and uncles sent you tons of gifts.“ Yi Fan realized something was missing, he had more gifts when he came home. He went on with the unwrapping, scowling at the ugliest hat he ever got and the box of chocolates he hated. Luckily his mother loved the chocolate so he kept the hat, which weirdly enough looked dashing with his new black coat, his mother’s gift. They drank, ate, and headed out to walk around before heading back straight to the bed. 

It was then when he noticed the small green gift bag. He curiously approached it, tired, and noticed a book about management, one of many he planned to buy and read. He flipped it open as he laid down and a paper dropped right into his eye which made him wince, and knocked some drowsiness out of his system as he picked up the paper.

“ _ Dear Wu Yi Fan,  _

_ I managed to be your secret santa this year. I had never been so happy and I had never been so terrified. It took me tons of tries to write this . You may not know me but I do know you and enjoy working with you. In fact, seeing you everyday taught me how to love every aspect of who you are. _

_ Yeah, I do love you and I’m not ashamed of it. There is nothing wrong about loving you, because you deserve all the love. I hope the fact I am a man won’t change that. You deserve to be loved, and I hope you will find the person meant for you, who would make you smile. Your smile is beautiful. You are beautiful. _

_ And I am aware you would be uncomfortable about knowing having a gay collegue who has feelings for you. I understand. I won’t bother you, I never did and never will, so please don’t worry. I just hoped to clear my conscience by admitting it. I want you to know that you are loved, just like you deserve, and that is it. I am asking for nothing more. _

_ With love. _

_ Your Secret Santa _ .” 

Yifan’s sleepiness was gone. He read the obviously shaken letter in his hand. He read it at least ten times to make sure it is not a joke. Someone confessed to him. 

someone was in love with him. 

_ A man  _ was in love with him. 

It was the first time it had happened since highschool and even then, they were girls. Yi Fan tucked the letter back in the book, setting it down on a shelf, and tried to sleep. He couldn’t stop thinking of the man despite trying to spend nice holidays with his mother. 

The third of January came just as he thought the week couldn’t get any longer. He went to work, emotionally alert, and went directly to Minseok. The shorter man was surprised to see Yi fan get in with a deep frown, “Good morning, Yi Fan,” He said carefully.

“Morning. Can I know the name of my secret santas?” Yi Fan asked him tiredly, as he sat down in front of his office. Minseok was about to object, “someone confessed to me through it.” 

Minseok looked quite confused as he mumbled, “ but all the secret santas I assigned to you are men?” Yi Fan didn’t answer and Minseok’s face was soon full of realisation, “oh.” Silence followed and Minseok looked quite confused again, “but how do you expect to know which gift belongs to which man? I don’t know that either.” 

“I’ll try to analyse their behaviors, perhaps bring the gifts to work and wait for a reaction,” Yi fan commented as he stood, “so can I know their names?” 

Minseok nodded, picking up a sticking note and wrote three names, handing them to Yi Fan who nodded and left to work. Once he was alone in the elevator for the upper level, he glanced at the paper. Three names were nicely written : Park Chanyeol, Kim Ki Bum and Kim Jongdae. 

Among the three, Yi Fan knew only Ki Bum. The dude was so competitive and they were at constant war at work, so he won’t be surprised if he was the one with the weird hat or the ugly chocolate box. The confession however,... “No way,” Yi Fan shook his head, “this is impossible.”

He made it to his office and tried to focus on that but everybody looked normal and acted normal. Yi Fan ran his eyes on the people working at his level several times but couldn’t find anything weird. “Are you okay, Mr. Wu?” A sound startled him and he looked up from his papers to look at an average tall man with a kitten smile, “I brought you the file you assigned to me before Christmas break.” 

“Thank you,” Yi Fan said, picking up the file, and the man bowed to leave, “hey, You are Kim Jongdae, right?” The man tensed and nodded, a stiff smile on his lips, “I remember you,” Yi Fan said with a smile, “thank you for getting this done.” 

“Welcome, sir.” Jongdae looked quite taken aback.

“Do you know who Park Chanyeol is? I have a bad memory, I can’t match the name with the face,” Yi Fan asked him smoothly.

“Oh, he is our technician, he works at the level below,” Jongdae said with a huge smile, “He is the one who managed to recover your files the last time your computer lagged.” 

Yi Fan hummed, he then had the faces behind the names and he hoped it was easy to gauge their reactions. He noticed Jongdae still standing there, “Thank you for letting me know. You can go.” Jongdae bowed and left while Yi Fan observed him. 

Among the three Jongdae was the one working with him the most. Didn’t the letter say he was working with him everyday? However, Kibum worked with him longer, but Yi Fan quickly shook his mind at that possibility.

He met Chanyeol at Lunch and the man had a creepy smile on, “what?” he asked him and Chanyeol chuckled.

“Nothing, I just pranked someone and I am enjoying it,” Chanyeol said with a teasing smile. Yi Fan felt his guts twist. Was the letter a prank? Thankfully he was a stoic person so he didn’t show his despair as he rolled his eyes and left Chanyeol to pick some lunch. 

He sat down alone for lunch and noticed Jongdae approaching him with another man, “Can we sit, sir?” Yi Fan nodded to their question and they sat down, eating silently. Ki Bum got in with his team, an arm on one of the girls who smiled at him all the time. He paused eating, which made the men stop too and look back. “Oh, Chief Kim just admitted he and his secretary were dating for a year,” the man beside Jongdae said in a hushed tone, “she was over the moon.” 

Yi Fan was glad Ki Bum wasn’t a possibility so he sighed in relief which made the men look at him weirdly. Yi Fan finished his food and left the area, getting in his office and scribbling above Ki Bum’s name. As He did so, he got the idea of leaving and buying those ugly chocolates he got for secret santa and offering it to Ki Bum. He still had twenty minutes in his break so he ran off. He rushed to the nearest store and bought the same box before running back. He was three minutes late and everybody was already working but he still approached Ki Bum who eyed him in surprise. “Hey I heard you finally settled with someone, Kim, I came to congratulate you,” he said with a wide smirk.

“Is that so? Or are you trying to get me back for sending you these ugly chocolates,” Ki Bum said, still picking the box and offering it to his secretary, “share them with the team or throw them.” 

“So you don’t like them as much as I do,” Yi Fan teased, “yet you still took the effort to send me the box as a secret santa. I didn’t know I meant that much to you, Kim, I am touched,” Yi Fan chuckled as Ki Bum scowled at him and held Yi Fan’s hand offered to him. “hey, I am truly happy for you. How long have we been working together? Seven years? and it is the first time I see you happy with someone, you should cherish it.” 

Ki Bum surprised Yi Fan with a shy “Thanks” and Yi Fan excused himself out. He worked in a happier mood because he got one secret santa solved but he still had two to go. The next day he showed up with the hat, wearing his coat and looked dashing nonetheless. He got comments about how cool he looked. 

He went on his morning like normal until Lunch time and he sat in front of Jongdae, with his lunch box and the book. Yi Fan had to know and so he brought both gifts. Chanyeol approached him, eyeing his look before frowning, “how can you look so cool with such ugly hat?” He asked as he plopped down, “I tried my best, Ge!” 

“I make things prettier” Yi Fan commented and he started eating normally, avoiding Jongdae’s eyes. He didn’t open the book in front of them but he was seen walking around with it which was normal considering he wore the hat too. Nobody questioned it. 

However, Jongdae didn’t smile much when he showed up with a folder, “The director said we had few mistakes in our reports,” Jongdae said, giving the folder to Yi Fan “I corrected them before bringing them to you for double checking.” 

“I will check it out,” Yi Fan said with a promising smile, “don’t take the chief scolding to heart. He is stressed lately.” 

“I won’t,” Jongdae said before bowing and leaving to his duty. Putting Jongdae in the spotlight wasn’t a great thing so Yi Fan made the choice to treat Jongdae like usual, maybe slowly get close to Jongdae and learn more about him.

He acted normal for a few days before one day, things changed slightly. He bumped into Jongdae who was watching a video on his phone, chuckling with the earphones on, and Yi Fan approached him to check it out, “Oh, I know this show.” 

“Mr. Wu, what are you doing here?” Jongdae asked him nervously as he took off his earphones and looked at Yi Fan, “is lunch break over?” 

“Not yet,” Yi Fan said before picking his own phone, “I was planning to call my mom, I hope you don’t mind.” Jongdae shook his head and put on the earphones again. Yi Fan spoke to his mother for a moment, telling her he was done with lunch and was going to be late for work. As he was done with the call, Jongdae’s video was over and they looked at each other for a second, and Jongdae looked away, “Are you okay?” 

“Yeah, I am fine, Mr. Wu,” Jongdae assured, only for Yi Fan to hold him from moving. Jongdae looked quite startled.

“Are you uncomfortable around me? I feel like you are avoiding me,” Yi Fan asked him worriedly and Jongdae sat down, shaking his head, “I am sorry if I did anything that made you uncomfortable.”

“No, I just,” Jongdae’s words stuttered and he looked away, quite at loss for words.

Yi Fan smiled kindly, patting Jongdae’s shoulder, “don’t overthink things,” he said, “Just say what you want to say. You may never know how I would react.” 

Jongdae looked at him, curiously, “I saw you hold a book the other day,” he suddenly said, “did you read it?” 

“Yes,” Yi Fan said with a smile, “I planned to read it ages ago but I didn’t purchase it until my secret santa sent it,” he looked away, smiling, “They left a love confession letter to me in it, so it makes the book special.” 

Yi Fan looked at Jongdae who looked quite relieved and happy. “I am not surprised you got a love letter,” Jongdae said as he noticed Yi Fan’s eyes on him, embarrassed, “you are quite a handsome person, the girls must be all over you.” 

Yi Fan chuckled before leaning to whisper into Jongdae’s ear, “it’s a guy.” He stood up, facing Jongdae with a wink, “see you later, Kim Jongdae.” 

Jongdae looked like he would melt right then from the embarrassment and shock and Yi Fan enjoyed his flustered self the entire day. Jongdae’s friend seemed to be aware of what was happening because he looked quite amused by the situation, and exasperated. Yi Fan simply chuckled and focused on his job when he noticed Jongdae walking out of the company, after him. “Oh you just finished?” He asked the man who looked everywhere but his side. 

“Yeah,” Jongdae whispered as he shifted his weight from one foot to another, looking around aimlessly.

Yi Fan smiled at the sight before asking, “do you want to have dinner with me?” Jongdae looked at him, wide eyed and slowly turning red, “I know a small place nearby, let’s go.” He held Jongdae’s hand and pulled the man along. Jongdae didn’t seem to be offended or unwilling, smiling at Yi Fan when the man looked at him.

When they got inside the small dinning place, it was packed, which made Yi Fan reconsider his plan but Jongdae soon spotted a table. “Here is a table for two,” he said with a cheerful smile. 

Yi Fan smiled and led him to the table, hoping nobody suspected them to be on an unplanned date. “Damn, it was a long day,” Yi Fan mumbled as he sat down. Jongdae chuckled at that and he looked at the menu, while Yi Fan observed him. “Isn’t it unfair?” Jongdae looked at him, surprised and he continued, “to love someone and not try to get close to them?” 

Jongdae looked like he lost all colors of his face and Yi Fan could relate to the fear the man had shown. He ordered the menu for two and looked at Jongdae who bowed his head, “I am sorry.” 

“Don’t be,” Yi Fan smiled as he spoke, playing with his watch, “It made me happy.” Jongdae didn’t speak so Yi Fan explained, “I lost hope of someone loving me, someone like me and you. I am not saying so to make you feel scared or to be hurt. I am just finding it unfair for you and me to keep turning into circles around each other.” 

“How did you know?” Jongdae asked, “I heard you had many secret santas.”

Yi Fan smiled, as they were served and as Jongdae served him, he said, “I looked for you.” Yi Fan picked his bottle of soju and filled his cup, before pausing. “Do you know how terrifying it was when Chanyeol said he pranked me and I thought the letter was a prank?” he said with a distant tone. I grew so used to seeing my hopes crushed that I almost lost the will to look for you.” 

“I am sorry,” Jongdae said, looking quite freaked out, “I didn’t think of that.” Yi Fan dismissed him and they finished in silence until they were half way done with the stew. 

“When did you realize,” Yi Fan paused as he looked around, before waving his hand evasively, “you know.” 

Jongdae blushed before setting his chopsticks down, “last year,” he admitted, “but I guess it started since I first joined the group.” Yi Fan nodded, surprised, as he filled his and Jongdae’s cup of Soju, Jongdae however added, “I didn’t want to tell anyone.” 

“I am glad you did tell me,” Yi Fan pointed out, “I truly am glad you came forward and allowed me to know about it and as a Christmas gift of all things, it made the holiday special to me.” Jongdae smiled at that and shyly bit on his lips as Yi Fan leaned closer, to whisper “I want to know you more, if you allow me.” 

Jongdae nodded, “I’d love that.” Yi Fan paid for their dinner and walked Jongdae who kept quiet, obviously overwhelmed by Yi Fan’s closeness, so the latter didn’t push. He walked Jongdae to the bus stop then left him with a small wave. It was awkward but he had hope as he went home.

Jongdae and he had slowly but surely made a connection at work. They would talk often alone, taking coffee breaks together, sitting at lunch together, and slowly Yi Fan grew to know Jongdae enough to ask him out. 

He looked around before leaning to a surprised Jongdae, “do you want to go out with me? Tomorrow at seven,” he whispered, “on a date.” 

Jongdae flushed a beautiful pink all over his face, nodding, before he turned crimson red as his friend, Minseok, got on them. “You need to tone down the PDA, I can’t handle more of this,” the man said teasingly. 

“You will see more of it,” Yi Fan said with a wink as he finished his cup and left. Jongdae’s joyful laugh was everything Yi Fan needed to have a great day. 

The date was super simple. They went to another city, tried some local’s specialities, talked plenty, had a walk, took the train back home and waited for Jongdae’s last bus. “You will miss your bus, hyung.” 

“I’m fine,” Yi Fan said before pulling Jongdae close enough to press a kiss on the corner of his lips. “It was an amazing date, Jongdae.” 

Jongdae chuckled and was tempted to kiss Yi Fan again when the bus came, “see you?” 

“See you tomorrow, boyfriend,” Yi Fan said with a wide smile and a small wave. Jongdae only waved at the bus’s door and rushed in. The bus was empty so Jongdae rushed to the last seat so he could wave to Yi Fan who remained there.

As the taller man observed his boyfriend waving cutely by the window, he realized life just got a thousand times better.


End file.
